Tiny house, big charm
Living life the tiny way could help pop the Kiwi property bubble.
A miniature-but-liveable home – part of the global tinyhouse movement – is for sale on Trade Me for $85,000, and even comes with its own double mezzanine floors.
The house is four metres high and can be driven away from the Paraparaumu yard where it is home to its builders, Jessica and Vannesa Ortiz.
Jessica Ortiz said she and her wife started building their labour of love in December, inspired by the couple’s time living in California.
The tiny-house movement is based around creating more sustainable homes that require less money and energy to build and keep running.
The couple completed the house in October, Jessica Ortiz said, and shifted into what was their first build – and actually the first tiny home they’d ever stayed in.
‘‘It was awesome ... We’d never actually set foot in a tiny house before this ... so we were a bit anxious during the process, about how it would feel.’’
The house required ‘‘minimum utilities’’, she said. ‘‘We have the composting toilet, so there’s no black water waste, and we can recycle that in the garden.’’
The build, working off a basic ‘‘shell’’ design from United States company TinyHouseBuild.com, cost about $50,000, she said.
‘‘We changed the amount of windows, placement of windows, placement of the door, layout of the inside, really everything but the shell.’’
Jessica Ortiz said the couple had planned to live in New Zealand but had to shift back to the US, so were selling their home.
The house was built on a 2.5m by 7.8m trailer, has 10 windows, and even its own bathtub.
As a bach it could be hold to up to six people, with room in the guest loft, a fold-out sofa and room for an inflatable mattress.